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Ohio has enough of its now-off-limits execution drug to complete seven of its 10 scheduled
lethal injections, meaning that over the next year it must somehow acquire new batches or again
switch to a different drug, according to a review of state pharmacy documents by the Associated
Press.

The state’s supply of pentobarbital expires next September, and the sedative’s manufacturer has
agreed to prevent its sale to prisons for executions. Ohio and other states stockpiled supplies
before that went into effect.

The state plans to put a killer of two men to death on Thursday and has executions scheduled
through March 2014. Those include three executions after the drug expires at the end of September
2013.

Prisons-agency spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said yesterday that the department will be working with
state pharmacists and the attorney general’s office to address the issue. She declined to comment
further.

It’s unclear what Ohio would do once the supply runs out. Prisons director Gary Mohr testified
in federal court in March that an altered version of pentobarbital or a supply imported from
overseas would not necessarily violate execution policies. Expired batches of the drug would
violate the policies, he said.

Other states are also facing possible pentobarbital shortages, and Missouri switched to another
drug altogether this year.

That drug, propofol, is perhaps best known as the drug that killed pop star Michael Jackson in
2009. It has never been used in a U.S. execution.

Pentobarbital is a surgical sedative that is sometimes employed in assisted suicides and is
commonly used to euthanize dogs and cats.

Last year, the only U.S.-licensed maker of pentobarbital sold the product to another firm.
Lundbeck Inc. said a distribution system meant to keep the drug out of the hands of prisons would
remain in place as Akorn Inc. acquired the drug.

Several states, including Ohio, had switched to pentobarbital after supplies of a previous
execution drug dried up.